Before you invest any time or effort into Search Engine Optimisation for your web site, first make sure that your domain name is set up correctly.

Make sure that your website is available whether or not the visitor types the “www.” in front of your web sites address.

Different web browsers handle misconfigured domains differently.

• Internet Explorer will launch a search based on the domain name using your default search engine.
• Firefox will try both versions of the domain and eventually arrive at the available version
• Chrome and Opera report the misconfigured domain as an error.

So which ever browser your visitors are using, at best they will experience a delay and at worst they will interpret the error page presented to them as your site being unavailable.

In some cases your web hosting company may even have a holding page configured advertising their services on the badly configured version of the domain.

So what is an easy way to check if your domain?

Simply open your web browser (other that FireFox) and type the address of your web site into the address bar with the www. in front of it and then with out the www. in front. In both instances you should arrive at the home page of your web site.

For a more scientific approach you can do what is called pinging.

In Windows go to Start > Run > Cmd and then type ping www.YOURDOMAIN.com

You should see 4 lines of data appear similar to the ones in the picture below which start with the word reply.

Pinging a domain to check it is available

Then do the same for YOURDOMAIN.com (it’s not case sensitive).

If the domain is misconfigured then you will the a message telling you that the domain cannot be found.

And if you discover that your domain is incorrectly configured, contact your web designer or your hosting company to let them know about the error.

The address of a web site is known as a domain name. Any one can register a domain name if it is available. When you register a domain name, you do not own it, you are paying for the right to use it for a specific period.

Most people register a domain for one or two years at a time, though they can be registered for up to 10 years at a time. When your domain registration period ends, you will be given the option to renew the right to use the domain name.

The number of years that you renew the domain for is know as the domain renewal period.

This is the process of purchasing domain names that are similar to those of popular web sites, but contain a typographical error.

A common example is when people type MICROSIFT instead of MICROSOFT.

These alternative web sites are usually set up to generate revenue from advertising.

When purchasing a domain name it is sometimes worth considering whether or not to purchase mis-spelt versions of your own domain name.

When you register a domain name, you need to supply three different points of contact for the domain (although these can all be the same person).

The three contacts are technical, admin and billing.

An Admin Contact is specifically responsible for approving any changes to the domain record, including changes to the three contacts. The main time you need to use the admin contact is when transferring a domain to a new registrar.